Rosa Bonheur, was a French artist, mostly a painter of animals but also a sculptor, in a realist style.

Born on  March 16, 1822, in Bordeaux, France, Rosa was said to have been given born to his parents by the name of Raymond Bonheur and Sophie Bonheur.

She is also said to have been raised by his parent along with his lone sibling known as Isidore Bonheur.

Bonheur was openly lesbian. She lived with her partner Nathalie Micas for over 40 years until Micas’ death, after which she began a relationship with American painter Anna Elizabeth Klumpke.

List of works

  • Ploughing in the Nivernais, 1849
  • The Horse Fair, 1852–55
  • Haymaking in the Auvergne, 1853-55
  • The Highland Shepherd, 1859
  • A Family of Deer, 1865
  • Changing meadows (Changement de pâturages), 1868
  • Spanish muleteers crossing the Pyrenees (Muletiers espagnols traversent les Pyrénées), 1875
  • Weaning the Calves, 1879
  • Relay Hunting, 1887
  • Portrait of William F. Cody, 1889
  • The Monarch of the herd, 1868

What Were Rosa Bonheur’s Political or Religious Beliefs?

Rosa Bonheur was said to have grown up to parents who were of Jewish origin. His father Oscar-Raymond Bonheur, a landscape and portrait painter brought them up to Saint-Simonianism, a Christian-socialist sect that promoted the education of women alongside men.